Meeting with Dhammamitras and Dhammasahayaks of Kodungalur, Thrissur District, Kerala
May 21st, 2024
(SAMAJ WEEKLY)- Kodungallur is a historically significant town situated on the banks of river Periyar on the Malabar Coast in Thrissur district of Kerala, India. Kodungallur Bharani festival in honour of the deity 
Kodungallur Bhagavathy (Bhadrakali) who is considered the legendary Kannagi of Tamil mythology and who is also revered as Goddess Pattini by Sri Lankan Sinhalese Buddhists. According to S. Sanku Iyer’s Keralavum Buddhamathavum, Temple rituals practiced in this region such as Vedikettu, Katina, Parayeduppu, Padayani, Pooram, Kettukazhcha and Rathotsavam are Buddhist offerings. Along with the Buddhist monasteries, they ran schools and health care centers. The Buddhist sites in Kodungallur have become the last vestiges of Kerala. With such great treasure in heart, personal meetings with Dhammamitras and sahayaks were organised to motivate each other on deepening personal relationship and spiritual practice. It was indeed a wonderful communication with Dhammamitras.
During the course of visit, there was a great opportunity of spending personal time with Dhammamitras at Kodungallur. A Dhamma talk was organized for Dhammamitra Gauthama Prabhu at a meeting organized by Loka Amalasaram, a Triratna Dhammasahayak chapter. The Dhamma talk was on “The Relevance of Paying Homage and Prostrating towards the image of the Buddha”. Prostration is a practice of surrendering one’s ego to the triple treasure. The Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice is one of the four ‘mula yogas’ (foundational practices) of the Tibetan tradition. The program was started with meditation and pali puja followed by the Dhamma talk. The talk was followed with group discussions and question/answer session. More than a dozen of them attended which included the Dhammamitras Mr. Sajeev Boudh, Mr.Binu Ramachandran, Mr. Sunil Rajagraha, and Mr. Sashidaran. The purpose of this meeting was to strengthen the Buddhist outreach throughout the southern regions. The energetic and youthful community members demonstrated a strong desire to advance their spiritual progress. We ended the program with Dhammapalana gata.
